


Anything Could Happen

by cassiopeiasara



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, prompt request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 05:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,329
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8520187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cassiopeiasara/pseuds/cassiopeiasara
Summary: I never saw this coming, she thinks and admonishes herself for not planning for this. 
It isn’t arrogance. Laura has never hidden behind her accomplishments nor paraded them around as if people needed the reminder. She always takes her victory in the showing of her ability and it’s hard to swallow that in the face of such blatant qualification, her people still didn’t choose her.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lolcat202](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolcat202/gifts).



> A/N: l offered to attempt some spaceparents fic for lolcat and she requested fluff that included Laura commenting to Bill, "I never saw this coming." This was my attempt. I couldn't think of the name of the big room with the window that Dualla and Billy go to in season one so I just called it the observation deck. This isn't beta'd so all mistakes are my own. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and I seek no profit.

She waits to cry until Bill leaves. Tory arranges a stack of files with what could be a frown if it wasn’t just what she always looks like. 

_She’s no Billy_ , Bill once said and the thought of it cuts through her heart in a way she hasn’t felt in a while. That’s something she’ll have to do now that she has more time than she ever thought. She’ll need to actually attend to Laura the woman without the mask of Roslin the president and it terrifies her almost as much as the thought of a Baltar presidency. 

She is grateful when Bill offers to tell him, worried of what she might do if saddled with the task. (She does consider it for a moment, the thought of assaulting him with her renewed strength manages to bring the tiniest of smiles to her face. The brig time isn’t even a real threat because it would save her the trouble of living on that horrible planet.)

She closes her curtain and falls to the bed with a sigh. The tears don’t come immediately, so conditioned is she to years without the luxury of just letting go. She slips off her heels and slowly pulls off her glasses, folding them and turning to lay down. 

_I never saw this coming_ , she thinks and admonishes herself for not planning for this. It isn’t arrogance. Laura has never hidden behind her accomplishments nor paraded them around as if people needed the reminder. She always takes her victory in the showing of her ability and it’s hard to swallow that in the face of such blatant qualification, her people still didn’t choose her.

She shakes her head and reminds herself that it wasn’t everyone. Her phone rings and she fumbles for her glasses, before answering it. 

She clears her throat and greets the person on the other end. “Hello?”

There’s a defeated sigh before, “I did it.”

She shakes her head and offers a sigh of her own. “It could have been avoided.”

“Laura-” he starts but she interrupts him with the thought that plagued her just a few moments before.

“I never saw this coming, Bill. In all my planning, in every scenario I imagined, I never saw this.”

“You never saw the end of the world either.” 

His tone is always so gentle these days, so encouraging and she knows when she actually lets herself give a name to the feelings he inspires,  there’s a hope there that he will miss her. That he will actually miss  _her_ , not just a President that he’s learned to work with, but a woman he trusts. 

“None of us did.”

“You shouldn’t beat yourself up too much over it Laura. You still have people who believe in you.”

She smiles slightly. “Do I?”

“You know you do.”

She hums in agreement. 

“Listen, after our meeting tomorrow, I have something you need to look at in the observation deck.”

She crosses her eyebrows and asks to make sure she’s heard him correctly. “The observation deck?”

She hears him clear his throat before he answers. “Yes.”

“Alright then, I have a free hour I think.”

“Good, I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Yes, you’ll have to enjoy it while you can.”

There is a small stretch of silence before he speaks again. 

“Get some rest, Laura.”

“You too, Bill.”

Her shoulders slump as she feels not only the weight of the day but everything that will come after it. She settles back into her bed and closes her eyes. The tears come right before she falls asleep. 

* * *

As they walk towards the observation deck, people stop and shake her hand, voicing their support and regret that she won’t be their president. When she tries to offer some diplomacy and encourage respect for their new President elect, she is greeted with understanding smiles and a reassurance that she will always be their president. 

It is a surprising comfort in the loss she’s endured and it helps remind her again that there are still plenty of people that saw her and recognized her for who she is. A president for her people. She tries not to shiver with thoughts of all the things Baltar will destroy that she fights so hard to protect. 

They stop outside the hatch and she quirks an eyebrow. 

“Why won’t you tell me what this is about?”

He offers her a half smile and his eyes are soft as he answers, “Surprises are no fun if you know ahead of time.”

She can’t help but add, “Surprises aren’t always fun.”

He pats her hand linked in his elbow. “I promise this one is.”

It’s a party with her staff and a few of his. Though their faces are subdued when speaking of settling, their smiles are bright in thanking her for all she’s done. It’s overwhelming to say the least and she feels herself almost break a few times before Bill’s hand at the small of her back steadies her. 

She knows she can do this. She wishes things were different but Bill was right the night before, she hadn’t seen the end of their world and still rose to the occasion. The future is terrifying but she’s come back from the dead and she can’t imagine that the gods would spare her and not expect her to keep going. 

They have a large crowd for about half an hour until everyone trickles out to return to their duties. She moves to the large window and offers a small smile as her eyes move from ship to ship. They have proven themselves a people who can endure and she believes in them even if so many decide to stop believing in her. 

“What are you thinking?”

She crosses her arms and looks up at him before turning back to the window as she answers. 

“That despite electing a complete buffoon to run them, the people are survivors and perhaps they’ll survive this.”

He hums in agreement. 

She looks behind them and notices they are the only ones left. She can’t help the opportunity to tease him. 

“Did you arrange this party so you’d have an excuse to get me alone in here?”

His eyebrows shoot up and he starts to shift his weight from foot to foot. “No, I thought you might like-”

Her chuckles interrupt him and she pats him lightly on the arm. “Calm down, Bill.”

He sighs in relief and adds an eyeroll for good measure. “We have about five minutes until you’re needed in the hangar deck.”

“Hmm,” she acknowledges before turning back to the window. She doesn’t normally take breaks and the anxiety over what’s to come and all she has left to do still rests heavily in her chest but she can’t resist this moment to stay here with him. “Do you think we’ll make it?”

He pauses for a moment and she can tell without looking at his reflection in the glass that his head is tilted and his brow is creased in concentration. She’ll miss these private moments most of all. She hopes she’ll continue to see him, that at the very least they’re friends and at the most...well, she’ll let herself attend to that when she’s no longer president. 

“I think we have to.” It would be a hollow answer if spoken by anyone else and she is sure there are those of her supporters thinking in a similar vein but it comes out of Bill’s mouth like a promise. 

“We do,” she agrees. 

It doesn’t quell all of her anxiety and it’s only a couple of minutes before she needs to go back to a list that seems impossible to complete before she needs to transfer power.  It does however remind her that not only does she still have supporters but there are still people with power she trusts to fight after she leaves. 

She knows better than anyone how much that means.


End file.
